The Disaster That Is Venezuela

A demonstrator holds a sign with the face of President Nicolás Maduro that reads “No Dictatorship, Out” during a second day of protests as the Supreme Court reverses its decision to seize the powers of the opposition-led Congress in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 1. (Wil Riera/Bloomberg)

The situation in Venezuela is important to Latin America and to the United States.

The effective coup d’etat by which the Venezuelan parliament was all but dissolved by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s controlled judiciary was an affront to democracy and a threat to political stability in the region, and is fortunately no longer successful.

The United States has more than oil interests here; it also has an interest in freedom and democracy.

Nelson Vanegas, Medellín, Colombia

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Neighboring countries offer humanitarian assistance after a natural disaster such as an earthquake, flooding or a hurricane. In Venezuela, the human condition has deteriorated to the point where international rescue, recovery and rehabilitation would be the logical steps. Yet there seems to be an obstacle for the Organization of American States.

Venezuela is more developed than Zimbabwe but its citizens are leaving the formal economy at a similar rate. In Venezuela, political conditions are more in line with those in North Korea than other countries in the Americas. Venezuela is thousands of miles away from Syria but only a few months away from a similar exodus.